The present invention relates to the casingless production of food product.
Conventionally, natural or artificial casings can be used to form and hold food products to help retain the shape and/or content integrity during processing, such as cooking, heating, or freezing. The food product can start as a flowable emulsion that can be stuffed into the casing or the casing can be formed around the emulsion by employing a co-extrusion process using a stuffer, extruder, or the like. The casing itself may be disposable and removed from the food product prior to shipping and/or eating or may remain intact on the food product during consumption and ingested.
Known extruders and co-extruders are available from various commercial manufacturers including, but not limited to, Kontura an apparatus manufactured by Townsend Engineering Co., located in Des Moines, Iowa. Stuffers are available from various commercial manufacturers including, but not limited to, HITEC Food Equipment, Inc., located in Elk Grove Village, Ill., Townsend Engineering Co., located in Des Moines, Iowa, Robert Reiser and Co., Inc., located in Canton, Mass., and Handtmann, Inc., located in Buffalo Grove, Ill. Exemplary stuffer and/or linker apparatus are also described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,788,563; 5,480,346; 5,049,108; and 4,766,645. The contents of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference as if recited in full herein.
However, there remains a need to provide cost-effective automated casingless processing systems of food items.
The present invention provides casingless food production systems and methods. In certain embodiments, the methods and systems are configured to provide casingless lengths of food product using elongated substantially rigid forming tubes. The flowable food can be configured to enter the forming tube as a flowable emulsion that is moved (pumped, pushed, conveyed) downstream of the entry location. In operation, as the food product moves forward, it can be exposed to predetermined processing conditions that alter the physical form of the emulsion to a non-flowable state having increased viscosity relative to its entrance state. The change in the physical state can be chemically or thermally initiated. Over time, the product can take on the shape of the forming tube so that it has sufficient structural rigidity to retain its tube formed shape without substantial deformation after its release therefrom. As such, in certain embodiments, the released food item may be compressible (semi-solid and yielding to tactile compression forces) or substantially incompressible (frozen or solid) at ambient conditions. Although formed into a desired shape, it may be cooked or uncooked at its exit.
The present invention provides casingless food production systems and methods. The term xe2x80x9ccasinglessxe2x80x9d means that the food product can be produced without requiring the assistance of a holding skin such as a collagen or natural skin casing. The term encompasses food items that are conventionally produced using casings (such as hot dogs and sausages and the like), as well as food items that have not required the use of casings (meatballs, popsicles, baked goods, shaped burgers, and the like).
In certain embodiments, the forming tube is configured from a non-metallic material suitable for cooking in a microwave oven. The forming tube may have a non-stick inner surface. In particular embodiments a plurality of forming tubes are arranged in a common processing system (such as a microwave oven) to concurrently produce a plurality of discrete lengths of food product increasing the production capacity, as may be suitable for particular commercial high-capacity applications.
The food may be cooked, frozen, smoked, cured, pickled, partially dehydrated, or otherwise processed as it moves through the forming tube via a single or multiple processing regions.
In certain embodiments, a casingless method for producing food products, includes: (a) providing at least one forming tube having sufficient structural rigidity to be substantially non-deformable and having a preformed internal cavity space of predetermined size and shape; (b) introducing a quantity of flowable food emulsion into the at least one forming tube; and (c) advancing the emulsion through the at least one forming tube while exposing the emulsion to predetermined processing conditions that convert the flowable emulsion held in the at least one forming tube to a non-flowable food product having the molded shape of the forming tube cavity.
Other embodiments are directed to casingless food production systems. The systems include: (a) at least one forming tube having sufficient structural rigidity to define a preformed cavity space with a predetermined configuration, the at least one forming tube having opposing ingress and egress portions; (b) at least one flowable food emulsion source in fluid communication with the ingress portion of the at least one forming tube; (c) at least one pump in fluid communication with the at least one forming tube for introducing the emulsion from the emulsion source with sufficient pressure into the at least forming tube to cause the emulsion to advance along the length of the tube to exit at the egress portion thereof; and (d) a processing region operably associated with the at least one forming tube. In operation, the processing region is configured to expose the emulsion to predetermined processing conditions that converts the emulsion held in the at least one forming tube to a non-flowable state having the molded shape of the forming tube cavity at the egress portion of the forming tube.
Other embodiments are directed to apparatus or producing casingless food products. The apparatus include: (a) at least one forming tube having sufficient structural rigidity to be substantially non-deformable and having a preformed internal cavity space of predetermined size and shape; (b) a pump for flowably introducing a quantity of flowable food emulsion into the at least one forming tube; and (c) means for advancing the emulsion through the at least one forming tube while exposing the emulsion to predetermined processing conditions that convert the flowable emulsion held in the at least one forming tube to a non-flowable food product having the molded shape of the forming tube cavity.
Still other embodiments are directed to forming tube assemblies for the production of casingless foodstuffs. The assemblies include an elongate forming tube having a preformed cavity with a predetermined mold shape and opposing ingress and egress portions and an emulsion source in fluid communication with the forming tube. The emulsion source includes a quantity of flowable emulsion comprising meat and/or meat analogs.
These and other objects and aspects of the present invention are explained in detail in the specification set forth below.